Two Maclovio Rojas residents have been kidnapped.

Your support is urgently needed for the Maclovio Rojas
community.

Two Maclovio Rojas residents were kidnapped (Thursday,
July 4th, 1:30 pm). According to Artemio Osuna, a leading
organizer of Maclovio Rojas, a group of police officers,
joined by a group of people with masks, kidnapped Pedro
Gomez Hernandez and his wife. "This is a new provocation;
they are preparing additional actions of repression. We
are asking you urgent support," Osuna said.

BACKGROUND

Maclovio Rojas is a community of maquiladora workers
halfway between Tijuana and Tecate, Mexico. Under the
Mexican constitution, unused land can be occupied legally
by poor people. If they plant crops, build a house and
pay taxes, in time the land becomes their communal
property for collective control, farming, living, etc.
This is called the ejido system. As part of the NAFTA
process, the Mexican constitution, which protected ejido
lands was modified, and poor families began to be forced
from their lands.

A few defiant communities, including Maclovio Rojas,
resisted. Maclovio Rojas now sits on prime industrial
real estate, sandwiched between maquiladoras. The Mexican
state has many attempts to evict them. The major last
physical attempt was 1996. At that time women
courageously placed themselves inside chains before their
makeshift homes could be pulled down. Women, men, and
children were beaten by Tijuana cops until other community
members made a bold, effective move. They began dragging
furniture into the major highway in front of the
settlement. That highway is a major artery of Baja
California, and the federal polices called the local cops
off because of the economic disruption. They have had to
struggle since then to keep their homes.

Currently the 2000 families of the colony of Maclovio
Rojas in Tijuana are under attack and are being harassed
by municipal police, state ministries, federal police and
government agents. Over 250 police have surrounded the
community to arrest leaders, provoke confrontation, and
finish the eviction once and for all.

How can you support the community of Maclovio Rojas?

1. Send a letter to the Mexican consulates and Tijuana's newspapers
   
   
2. Attend/organize a demonstration in front of the Mexican Consulates
   
   
3. Organize a group of people willing to go to Tijuana and visit
   Maclovio Rojas' community.

1. LETTERS

* Flood the Mexican consulates with letters to president
Vicente Fox supporting Maclovio Rojas community.

* Send letters supporting Maclovio Rojas to the Mexican Press.
Letters to the consulate can be in English, but
letters to the press should be sent in Spanish. (An
example is provided below.) Send leters by e-mail to
Periodico Frontera de Tijuana: <[email protected]>.
Periodico Frontera is available at:
http://www.frontera.info.
Send a copy of your e-mail to
Maclovio Rojas: <[email protected]> and
<[email protected]>.

Letters to the newspaper should include the following
introduction:

"Sr. Director, Favor de publicar la siguiente carta
relativa a los ultimos
sucesos en la poblacion Maclovio Rojas."

Sample letter (Spanish Version):

Sr. Vicente Fox,
Presidente de Mexico

Como es de conocimiento público, en días pasados han
llegado varios convoyes con elementos de la policía
estatal y otras fuerzas de seguridad al poblado Maclovio
Rojas de Tijuana. El objetivo aparente de este operativo
consiste en "buscar armas" y arrestar a Hortencia
Hernández y otros dirigentes de la colonia. En este
momento, dos pobladores han sido secuestrados por fuerzas
de seguridad. Por muchos años, la organización popular en
Maclovio Rojas ha realizado innumerables esfuerzos para
ofrecer una vida decorosa y digna a su comunidad. Desde su
fundación en 1989, la Maclovio Rojas ha ofrecido una
alternativa de vida para miles de habitantes pobres, en su
mayoría trabajadores de maquilas y emigrantes del sur del
país, quienes difícilmente encontrarían otro lugar
decoroso para vivir en el área Tijuana-Tecate. Lo que
menos merecen los pobladores de Maclovio Rojas es una
nueva agresión del gobierno y la policía. Desde 1994, los
pobladores de la Maclovio pagaron 37 millones de pesos
para legalizar la posesión de la tierra que ocupan y que
hoy es codiciada por fraccionadores. En el contexto de una
sociedad "pistolizada," la Maclovio Rojas es probablemente
una de las colonias más seguras y pacíficas de Tijuana. Su
organización se ha ganado el respeto, aprecio y apoyo de
innumerables personas y grupos de Baja California y
California. Nos parece inaceptable que los Maclovios sean
agredidos y, definitivamente, ellos y ellas no están
solos.

Atentamente,

Sample letter (English Version):

"During the past few days, convoys of state police and
other security forces have arrived to the Maclovio Rojas
community of Tijuana. The objective of this operation is
allegedly to "search for weapons" and arrest Hortencia
Hernández and other community leaders. Two inhabitanst of
Maclovio Rojas have already been kidnapped. For many years
now, the grass-roots organization that created Maclovio
Rojas has carried out numerous projects to offer a
better and dignified way of life for the community. Since
its founding in 1989, Maclovio Rojas has provided an
alternative for thousands of poor residents, the majority
of whom are immigrants from the southern states of
Mexico and work in the maquiladoras. Finding decent
housing in the Tijuana-Tecate region would be nearly
impossible for these families. The residents of Maclovio
Rojas do not deserve to be subject to this new attack
by the government and police. Since 1994, the community
members of Maclovio paid 37 million pesos to obtain legal
titles for the lands they reside on, lands now coveted by
developers. In the context of a society with such an
overwhelming presence of weapons, Maclovio Rojas is
probably one of the safest and most peaceful in Tijuana.
The community's organization has earned the respect and
support of people and organizations from Baja California
and California. It is unacceptable that the Maclovio
residents be attacked. They are not alone.

Sincerely,...

2. DEMONSTRATE AT THE MEXICAN CONSULATE
To find the consulate in your area go to:
http://www.mexonline.com/consulate.htm

3. VISIT AND SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY MACLOVIO ROJAS

Organize a group of people willing to go to Tijuana and
visit Maclovio Rojas' community Center "Aguascalientes."
Directions to go to Maclovio Rojas:
<[email protected]>